Information recording medium

Abstract

It is to provide an information recording medium having a visual information recording layer which is a high sensitive visual information recording layer capable of recording at a relatively low temperature without having a heat effect on an electronic information recording medium and which is excellent also in durability of the display record. An information recording medium having at least a visual information recording layer for recording visual information and a substrate, characterized in that the visual information recording layer contains organic matter particles having a melting point of at least 50° C. and at most 180° C. and an average particle size of at least 0.5 μm and at most 2.0 μm, and is capable of recording by heating or irradiation with light without substantial chemical change of the organic matter particles.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an information recording medium capable of recording visual information by heat or light. More particularly, it relates to an information recording medium capable of optically recording and retrieving electronic information and further, capable of recording visual information by heating or irradiation with light in a region other than the electronic information recording region. BACKGROUND ART Of an electronic information recording medium for recording, storing and rewriting a lot of information, importance as computer peripheral equipment is increasingly high in recent years. Particularly, an information recording medium on which recording and retrieving are carried out by means of a laser beam attracts attention as a mass storage recording medium since high density recording, storing and retrieving are possible. As examples of such an information recording medium, a phase-change type information recording medium represented by CD-...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

It is an object of the present invention to provide an information recording medium having a visual information recording layer which is a high sensitive visual information recording layer capable of recording at a relatively low temperature without having a heat effect on an electronic information recording medium, and which is excellent also in durability of the display record.

The present inventors have conducted extensive studies to obtain a recording layer for visual information having both high sensitivity and high durability and as a result, have found it effective to disperse organic matter particles having predetermined physical properties in the visual information recording layer, and achieved the present invention.

According to the present invention, by incorporating organic matter particles having specific physical properties in the visual information recording layer, a stable focus can be obtained by laser irradiation at a low output, recording of clear visual information with good visibility at a high sensitivity is possible, and recording excellent in storage stability also becomes possible.

Further, since recording on the label face is possible by using a laser for information recording, it is possible, after information is recorded, to record to display the content of the recorded information on the label face by the same laser as the laser for information recording, and thus convenience for consumers can be further improved.

Problems solved by technology

However, in order to carry out printing by an ink-jet method or a thermal transfer method, a special printer is necessary in addition to the recording device for the electronic information, and it is not necessarily a simple method for a person who intends to record visual information on a small amount of mediums i.e. for personal use or the like.

Further, with respect to the method of bonding e.g. a label, the label may peel off during use due to the problem of durability of an adhesive, or unbalance during rotation of the medium tends to be significant due to the center slippage at the time of bonding, and in an extreme case, recording and retrieving may not be carried out.

Accordingly, there is a fear that excessive irradiation with a laser beam may have a bad influence over the recording layer for electronic information optically recorded on the same medium, and accordingly careful attention has to be paid to a laser beam irradiation method.

Further, a device for recording and erasing visual information by using a thermal head has also been proposed (JP-A-11-283356), however, similar to the case of irradiation with light, a bad influence over the recording layer for electronic information is concerned, and further attention is required in a case where rewriting is carried out repeatedly.

However, in the case of the reversible display recording layer, increase in recording sensitivity (decrease in display temperature) and heat resistance of the display recorded part usually conflict with each other, such being unsatisfactory as a recording layer having favorable recording sensitivity and having high durability.

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